FULL OBITUARY
Frances “Frankie” Rose Fernandez, 98, passed away peacefully Wednesday the 29th of April, 2020.
Frankie was born in 1921 in Taylor’s Creek, outside of Savannah, Georgia, to Gonzalo Champion Fernandez of Brownsville, Texas and the former Fleeta Caswell of Taylor’s Creek. The family moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1927. Frankie graduated from John Marshall High School and went on to receive an undergraduate degree from Madison College (JMU) and then gained her credentials in nursing from Grace Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. Later, while working at the Medical College of Virginia, she contracted tuberculosis requiring a 6-month recuperation. As a result, Frankie decided to pursue a master’s degree in Public Health and graduated from UNC at Chapel Hill. She was the first woman admitted to the program. Ahead of her time, she specialized in integrating public health concepts into the nursing program specialties.
After working for the State Health Department serving the under privileged, Frankie taught graduate-level nursing in Public Health at MCV, retiring in 1983. While at MCV, she was the first nurse, and the first woman, to lecture male medical school students in her area of expertise. For many years, Frankie served on the board of the Instructive Visiting Nurses Association (IVNA).
After retiring, Frankie pursued many passions, which included cooking, but primarily gardening. She was a master gardener and created beautiful city and seaside gardens by dividing her time between her home in Richmond and her beloved Gwynn’s Island cottage on the Chesapeake Bay. She was ever the teacher, cheerleader and mentor to everyone she knew.
Frankie is predeceased by her parents, her siblings Gonzalo Champion, Jr., Edward and Albert (Al) Richard as well as her nephew Albert Richard (Rick) Fernandez, Jr. Frankie is survived by her niece Amy F. Byrne and husband Greg and their family, her nephew Jon Anthony (Tony) Fernandez and his wife Kari and their children Jon Erik, Patrick and Kali as well as her great-nephew Albert Richard, III, (Trey) Fernandez and his wife Stephanie, great-niece Jane Elizabeth (Liz) Fernandez and great-nephew Benjamin Philip (Benny) Fernandez.
Frankie’s patron Saint Francis of Assisi gave us words by which Frankie lived her life: “Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
Condolences can be sent to Amy Byrne, PO Box 97, Shepherdstown, WV 25443.
A private gathering celebrating her life will be held at a later date at her cottage on Gwynn’s Island, Virginia.
